Just What I Need
by StarWarrior72
Summary: If it can get Padme back, Vader doesn't care if it kills his only son. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Luke was curled in a tiny terrified ball the day Vader came to retrieve him. When he heard his father coming he ran to the bars at the front of the cell, praying that Vader would stop at his cell to say something to him. At this point he would have taken anything, even words of hatred, just to have Vader acknowledge him.

Vader stepped into his son's cell and motioned to the troopers outside. Two of them had slung Luke over their shoulders before they realized that it would be easier for one of them to carry him. Vader groaned inwardly at his useless guard.

Luke moaned softly and reached out to his father. Vader turned from the boy and started off back to his shuttle._ Soon the galaxy will free of that scum and I will have my angel back. This is about to end. With Luke gone and Padmé back I won't need Palpatine anymore. With Padmé to protect I can find the strength to destroy that disgusting corpse._

With this happy thought Vader boarded his shuttle. Luke was carried up and into the cargo hold. Vader could hear soft sobs as the boy was carried past him._ You`re a loyal little boy, aren`t you? I bet you thought that it would make me love you. You were wrong, stupid boy. Your sick devotion won't help you. Although I hear you have been begging for death, so I suppose in a way it will. _Vader considered sending these thoughts to his son but he decided that the boy could wait to be let down.

Luke curled up in his new cell and tried to convince himself that his father was trying to avoid having the troopers learn that he did care about his son. _If he hates me as much as he says, why did he get me out of jail? He must have changed his mind about me. He has to love me. I need him to love me. What kind of parent would treat me the way he does? He must be acting._ Luke clung to these thoughts as he felt the ship start to move.

Up in the cockpit, Vader was lost in thoughts of his own. _Are you ready, Angel? We'll be together again soon. Everything is finally coming back together. I will finally destroy the Jedi and we can rule the galaxy together, the way it was meant to be. The time is coming now. I have the last Jedi and he is the key to having you again._

In his cell, Luke reached out through the Force to his father, _Father, are you there?_ No answer. The ship bumped and Luke hit his head on the floor. He sat up, holding his head, and stared at the door, waiting for one of the troopers to come for him.

He got a pleasant surprise when it was Vader who opened the door.

"Dad!" Luke jumped to his feet and raced to his father, forgetting that it was only safe to call Vader that in his daydreams.

_Stupid boy, you will learn your place soon enough__;__ if you live long enough to._ Vader picked his son up and started up to his castle with the boy in his arms. Luke clung to his father's neck in blind trust.

Vader entered a lift and pressed the button for the top floor. Luke released his father's neck as the lift started to move. Vader placed him on the floor and let him lean on the wall of the lift.

"Thank you, Father. I was starting to worry that you didn't care." Luke moved away from the wall to press close against his father.

"So it's true. You really are smarter than you look."

Luke recoiled at his father's words, "What do you mean? If you don't want me back why did you go back for me?"

"Or maybe you really are a stupid farm boy." The lift jerked to a halt, "I never wanted you," the door opened, and Vader gestured to a strange machine, "I wanted her."

The machine looked like it had been homebuilt, it resembled a chair attached to a torture frame, and both had needles and sensors hanging off of them. On the chair sat a beautiful woman in a long, flowing dress. She was unconscious and hooked up to the strange machine. Luke had a bad feeling about who would be attached to the torture frame.

His fears were confirmed as Vader walked over to it and turned back to him, "Come here, Boy."

Luke stumbled backwards and mumbled, "My name is Luke Skywalker."

"Your name is not important. Get over here."

"My name is important to me. I had hoped that it might be special to you." Luke started to inch into a corner, as far away from his father as possible.

Vader sighed, "I had hoped that you might make this easy for me. Don't you want to make Daddy happy?" he mocked.

Tears were rolling down Luke's cheeks, "I do! I'm just scared that that'll mean that you're going to hurt me."

"I am going to hurt you, whether you do as I ask or not."

"At least tell me why you're doing this to me. Who is she?" Luke waved his arm at the woman.

"How sad it must be, not to recognize your own mother. Her name is Padmé. What I'm doing to you will bring her back to me. It's fitting, you are the reason she is dead, and you will be the reason that she returns to me."

"Clearly this is going to hurt me, but will it hurt her?"

"It will not. She will not be happy about your death but she will be physically unharmed. Come here and I will explain as we go along."

_My death. He talks about his only son dying like its tomorrow's weather. Why? What did I do wrong? _Luke stumbled towards his father, "If it's going to kill me I want to kiss Mom goodbye."

"You may."

Luke stepped up onto the platform the chair sat on and he looked at his mother's face for the first time._ Mom, is this what you would want? Would you be willing to see me die? Would you at least feel sorry for me? Or would you laugh with Dad as you watched me dying?_ He bent and kissed her cheek.

Vader felt the turmoil of emotions from his son and watched as he stepped down from the platform and came over. Luke's head was down and Vader could sense that he had given up.

Vader was about to start to chain his son into the frame when the boy moved quickly and managed to plant a kiss on his father's shoulder. Vader pushed his son out of the way and saw tears on the boy's cheeks.

"I'm ready. Just do it and get it over with." Luke held out his right arm for his father to chain.

"I'll get it started, but it won't be over for a long time." Vader made sure that all the chains were lose and started to attach them to his son's limbs. Luke cried softly as he felt the chains go around his ankles, but he didn't bother to beg for mercy.

"What this machine will do is take the life force of a living creature and give it to a clone of a dead family member." Vader took one of the many needles that hung from the frame and pushed it under his skin of his son's wrist, "This will make sure that you don't pass out. The only way to extract the life force is through excruciating pain."

Luke nodded silently. He had counted on that much.

"These," Vader continued, pressing more needles under Luke's skin, "Will give your mother some of your living blood. Your heart will start hers and it will be as though you are one person with two hearts. These sensors are to monitor your shared heartbeat. There will be more happening, but I don't think that you are smart enough to understand what. Let's just say that your life force will be transferred to your mother. It should be enough to allow her to come back from the Force and to send you there in her place."

Luke whimpered suddenly and he fell to his knees. Vader ignored his son's pain and terror and started to tighten the chains so that Luke was lifted off the ground by one arm and hung there as Vader tightened the other chains.

Luke hung on the rack and watched sadly as his father turned the machine on._ Goodbye, Father. I love you, _he thought, before the machine started its grisly work.

Vader watched his son's pain without feeling. He had thought that there would be a sense of accomplishment watching the last Jedi die in agony, but he felt hollow.

It might have been because Luke hadn't been a full-fledged Jedi. Perhaps it was because Luke had given up. _Perhaps it's because you're watching your only child die._ Vader quickly banished the thought and returned his attention to the boy on the torture rack.

The boy who was his only son, the boy who loved him so much, the boy who was shrinking? Vader stared as his boy got smaller and his features became more rounded. It was like watching the boy lose his years.

Padmé's spirit was called from watching over her daughter, as she had watched her whole family since she had died, by her son's pain. She circled the room once, taking survey of the horrible scene, and joined with the clone body.

Suddenly Vader saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Padmé stirring. As he watched her deer eyes opened and she saw their terrified, screaming son, who now appeared to be about five.

Much to Vader's horror she stood and launched herself into the air at her son, tearing out all the needles and sensors. She caught Luke's tiny body in her arms and tore him from the torture rack, his smaller wrists and ankles sliding out of the cuffs with only a few scrapes to show for it. The moment the adrenaline IV tore out of his arm Luke fainted.

Padmé landed on the floor behind the rack and curled into a ball around her son in an effort to protect him from further harm. She saw her husband dashing over and kneeling next to her and managed to speak before she too passed out. "Keep our son alive. If he is dead when I come to, you will lose me too."

Vader started to say that Luke was really no great loss, but Padmé was already unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Padmé woke up blinking at the surgical glare of a medical facility. Her husband bent over the bed, but she couldn't see their son anywhere.

"Where is Luke?"

"How do you feel, Padmé?"

"I feel fine, where is our son?" she snapped.

"You shouldn't have pulled out the needles before the treatment was complete, you could easily have killed yourself, as well as Luke."

"Are you saying that Luke died?"

"No, the scum survived."

"He is a person and his name is Luke Skywalker." Padmé quoted the words of a nine year old Anakin.

"Don't think you can make me love him, Padmé."

"Where is he?"

"He is in another ward."

"Is he awake?" Padmé asked, hoping against hope that he was.

"Yes. I suppose you want to see the scu-the boy?"

"I do."

Vader stood and left his wife's large room. He walked down corridor after corridor until he reached the ward Luke was in. He marched into his son's tiny, filthy cell. A cot was the only furniture in the room. On the cot lay a small boy who was fast asleep, his blond hair fanning across the pillow, like a halo.

Vader walked up to the bed and grabbed the child's hospital gown and dragged him out of bed. Luke woke with a whimper and Vader gathered his son in his arms. Padmé would be suspicious about bruising around the boy's neck._ He's filthy. I don't want him taking any diseases to Padmé. Maybe there's a bathtub or something in the fresher._

Vader remembered that there were no bathing facilities in the peasants' ward of the hospital. He carried his son into the janitor's closet and filled the industrial sized sink with the only kind of water that came out of the tap, cold. He pulled the boy out of his gown and dropped him into the sink. Luke curled into a ball and started to shiver, small teeth chattering. Vader pried his son into a more open position so that he could scrub Luke before taking him to his mother.

Luke lay still as Vader roughly scrubbed his body. He moaned as his father scrubbed the skin off one of his forearms. When Luke's tiny body was all bright red from the cold and the harsh scrubbing Vader pulled him back out of the sink and dressed him again.

"Anything I tell your mother is the truth, do you understand?"

Luke nodded.

"Good." Vader gathered his son in his arms again and carried him back to Padmé's room.

Padmé sat up in bed as her husband carried her son into the room. Vader carried Luke to the bedside and put Luke on his mother's lap. Luke looked up at her with huge, innocent eyes and she kissed his forehead and drew him close against her breast.

Luke lay against his mother and breathed in her sweet scent. She smelled of flowers and soap, two things Luke hadn't had access to in a long time.

"Are you hungry, Luke?" as she spoke her breath stirred his hair, making him giggle.

"Yes."

Padmé turned to her husband, "Ani, would you please go buy Luke something to eat?" Luke slipped his little arms around her, "And maybe a stuffed toy too."

Vader nodded and left, seething. Padmé felt her son relax as Vader left the room.

"Why did it take you so long to get here, Luke?"

"It was a long walk."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah." Luke wanted to tell her more, he wanted to tell her everything, but he knew that his father would be very angry, Even though he wouldn't technically be breaking the rule. Daddy wouldn't see it that way and he'd be mad.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." _Does Mom suspect something?_

"That's good. How do you feel?"

"Better now." Luke nestled close to his mother.

Vader stalked back into the room and flung a stuffed bantha at his son. Luke caught it and hugged it close. Vader passed Padmé the food he had bought for their son and she started to spoon feed the boy.

When she was done Vader took Luke back out of her arms. Luke clung to his bantha.

"He can stay here a few more minutes, can't he?" Padmé reached out to her son.

"No. It is a long walk back to the children's ward and he needs his sleep." Vader left his wife's room. As soon as they were out of earshot he put his son down. "What did you tell her?"

"I didn't tell her anything. I knew you'd be mad." Luke tightened his grip on his bantha and stared at his father with wide, terrified eyes.

"Come on then." Vader grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him down the hall. Luke did his best to stumble along, his small legs far too short to match his father's pace.

"Daddy, I can't keep up! Please slow down."

Vader spun and grabbed the boy by his collar, "Don't call me 'Daddy'. You are no more my son than any other rebel." He dropped Luke.

Luke whimpered, "Oh." His small arms held his bantha as close as possible. He buried his face in the soft artificial fur. Vader grabbed the boy's wrist and continued his march down the hall.

When they reached Luke's small cell Vader turned to go back to his wife. Luke watched his father go before he realized that he couldn't climb onto his bed.

After several attempts the sharp edges of the movable cot had cut his small feet badly. Giving the best jump he could manage he snagged the edge of the blanket in his hand. He pulled it down and crawled into one corner of his cell. He curled up under its threadbare half-warmth and tried to go to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Vader marched into his son's cell and immediately picked out the small body in to corner. He grabbed the boy with the same gentleness as the day before and shook him roughly.

"What are you doing on the floor, stupid boy? I don't want Padmé to catch something from you."

"I couldn't get into bed." Luke mumbled as his arms slipped back around the bantha he had let go of in sleep. He held out one of his feet to show his father the cuts. Vader slapped his foot and Luke pulled away, tears springing to his eyes.

"I do not care about your stupid problems. Padmé is not to know about this, do you understand?"

Luke nodded and Vader took him back to the janitor's closet for another wash.

They arrived at Padme's room and she stood up.

"Lie down, Padmé. You have not healed enough yet to stand without help." Vader walked to his wife's side and put an arm around her.

Padmé smiled slightly at her husband's protectiveness, "Are you ready to go home, Luke?"

"Where is home?" Luke tried to move to his mother's arms, but Vader stopped him.

Padmé turned to her husband, "That's a good question. I was automatically thinking of the cottage on Naboo, but that's not it is it?"

"We will be going to my castle on Vjun."

They left the hospital and boarded Vader's private shuttle. Vader helped his wife to the main sitting area, passed her their son, and headed to the cockpit. Padmé sat with Luke on her lap and rocked him gently.

"Sleep my baby. Sleep now, my little boy."

"I'm n-not sleepy." Luke mumbled through a huge yawn.

Padmé laughed, "You're just like your Daddy, aren't you Luke?"

Luke shivered and she couldn't help noticing, she became instantly serious, "Daddy's been hurting you again, hasn't he?"

Luke thought of his father's threat and started to cry. Padmé stroked his hair and held him close, "It's all right, Luke. It's OK. What has Daddy done to you?"

Luke couldn't talk through his tears, so he just held up one foot to show his mother the cuts.

"Daddy cut your feet?"

Luke shook his head. He waited a few moments then started to hiccup, "Daddy didn't help me get into bed an' when I tried I cut my feet. He slapped me." Luke showed her the foot Vader had slapped and she made a gentle coo at the back of her throat to calm him as he slipped back into tears.

"I'll talk to Daddy about this when we arrive. I won't let him hurt you."

Padmé spent the rest of the short ride trying to comfort her son and thinking of what to say to her husband.

When they reached the castle Vader showed Padmé to their room and then they took Luke to his. Padmé was surprised to see that Luke's room was actually a reasonable size. She sat her son on the bed and he immediately started looking around his room with big, bright eyes, all memories of his pain vanished in his amazement.

"Ani, I need to talk to you. Privately," she added as Luke made as if to follow her.

Vader led her down the hall to the living room, "Yes, Padmé?"

Padmé spun at her husband, the smile she had worn when she was with their son gone, "Anakin Skywalker! How could you do that to an innocent child?"

"He is not innocent. He was, and still is, a rebel."

"He is our child, Ani! He's a frightened child who needs his parents!"

"Don't put on you senator face, Angel"

"This is my protective parent face, actually! Luke needs you, but you're pushing him away!"

"Skywalker has survived without parents this long. He can continue to manage, especially if you are with him."

"He may have survived, but he never really lived. He spent his entire life wanting you. I'm not sure he can survive with you working against him. Yes, he showed me what you did to him!"

"I did nothing to him. I was unaware that he couldn't get into his bed."

"You did slap him when he showed you. You went so far as to tell him that you didn't care about him."

"I had heard that honesty was a virtue." Vader remarked.

"Honesty is. Cruelty is not! I swear that if you hurt our baby three times I will kill myself. And I will not come back again. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Angel." Vader reached out to his wife and stroked her cheek, wishing fervently that he could actually feel her soft, smooth skin.

Padmé spun and marched back to her son's room, feeling that her husband may not have believed her. Luke crawled into her arms from where he had been happily investigating a toolkit and some spare parts.

"Are you sleepy, Luke? I doubt that you got much sleep on the floor."

Luke nodded tiredly and Padmé tucked him into bed. "Sleep well, Luke."

Padmé gently tucked him into bed and rejoined her husband for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

Once Padmé was safely back in bed and out of the way, Darth Vader stalked up to his son`s room.

"You told her. I specifically told you not to and you told her! You stupid, worthless piece of scum!" Vader grabbed his sleeping son and threw him at the floor.

Luke woke with a sob.

"I told you not to tell her anything about how I treat you and you told her everything. And do you know what she did? She threatened herself. If she finds out about I'm hurting you three times she's going to kill herself. Leaving me to treat you however I want to. And we don't want that, do we?"

Luke, who had been listening to his father in wide-eyed, horrified fascination, shook his head.

Vader advanced toward him, "And there are only three ways she could find out, aren't there?"

Luke nodded.

"I could tell her, you could tell her, or she could see evidence. I can avoid the first and the last, but it's up to you to avoid the second. If you tell her about how I treat you three times you won't have anyone to protect you anymore. I hope even you can work out what that means."

Luke nodded again.

"Well, then, let's have a little test." Vader pulled something off his belt, "Come here, boy."

He clicked a button and a rope started to emerge from the cylinder, "Wonderful thing, liquid cable." Vader laughed.

Luke crawled over to his father shakily and Vader brought his improvised whip down on his son. Luke let out a helpless whimper and bit his lip. Again the whip came down and again Luke couldn't hold back a small sound of terror, quickly stifled.

After ten cracks of the whip, Vader grabbed his son and carried him over to the closet where the boy's clothes were stored. He pulled out a new shirt and tore the ripped and bloody hospital gown off his son's back. He laughed as Luke tried to put on the change of clothes despite the pain it caused him.

Finally, the boy dropped his shirt on the floor, "I can't. It hurts too much. Please don't make me."

"Put on your shirt or you get another ten lashes." Vader snarled at him.

Luke grabbed the shirt and managed to drag it over his wounds, flinching. Vader laughed coldly and dropped the boy back on his bed.

When his father was gone, Luke curled up under the covers and took his shirt back off. _Mom'll see what Dad did to me. She'll make it all better and Daddy won't hurt me anymore. Yeah, Mom will make it all better._

Padmé rolled over in the big bed, wishing that her husband was with her. As though he had heard her prayer Vader's huge form blocked the light from the doorway. He came into the room and Padmé watched as he slipped into a room off of her own.

In five minutes he was back. Vader wore a loose tunic in a dark brown material and a breath mask over the lower half of his scared face.

"Don't look that way, Padmé. It's not that painful. Not anymore at least. But at least you must see why I hate the Jedi. Obi-Wan did this to me, Love." He slipped his tunic off and dropped it on a chair, revealing even more scars.

Padmé stood up and walked to her husband. She slipped her arms around his neck, laughing as she had to stand on her tip-toes to reach. "You've grown."

Vader turned away and sat down on the bed. He took of one of his boots, revealing a gleaming mechanical claw in the place of his foot. "Not naturally. I suppose my master thought that I would be more intimidating if I was even taller. I've missed you, Angel. Living without you has been harder than you can possibly imagine." Vader removed his mask for a moment to kiss his wife's cheek and she blushed.

"Ani, you're embarrassing me."

"What better time to flatter you that when we're alone together?"

"Oh, Ani." Padmé lay on her husband's chest. Vader ran his hands through her soft hair and down her back. After years apart there were no words to express their happiness. They sat side by side, separated by air, but at the same time, completely merged. The places where Vader's artificial claw touched the soft skin of Padme's hand and her side against his were enough to let their love connect their separate bodies.

Vader felt more in tune with the Force than he had in years. His passion for his wife fueled the Dark Side, but his love for her allowed him to feel the light.

Padmé sat in her husband's arms and sighed softly. The way he had treated their son had made her wonder if he had forgotten that love was a gentle feeling that comforted and warmed you when you simply looked at someone.

They sat together for a while before Vader gently let her go, "Goodnight, Padmé."

Padmé smiled, "Goodnight, Anakin." She curled back up in bed and she could feel the strong curve of her husband's back against hers. Both were asleep in next to no time.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mommy!" Luke pulled his mother's hand again.

Padmé reached down and gathered her son in her arms, then placed him on her lap. Luke smiled and moved close to his mother. Padmé looked at her son. It was odd, really, knowing that he was still the same person he had been before what Padmé now thought of as "The Process". It was harder for him to access old memories, but they were still there.

Absentmindedly, she started to stroke his little back and he flinched. She stopped, "What is it Luke? Are you all right?"

In response, Luke carefully took off his shirt so his mother could see his wounds.

Padmé gasped, "Did Daddy do that to you?"

"Mmhm," Luke nodded.

Padmé started to run her hands through his hair instead, but Luke's hair was too tangled. "Come on, Sweetie. Let's get your hair combed out and you can have a bath if you want to."

"That'd be nice," Luke said softly.

Padmé stood and carried her son to the 'fresher so that his bloodied feet wouldn't have to touch the ground. She ran a warm bath for him and was about to help him undress when she remembered that he might be offended by the action. He sensed her thoughts and nodded quietly. She smiled at him and slipped out of the room.

"If you need anything, just ask." She told her son as she closed the door.

She could hear her son splashing a bit and after about half an hour she heard the tub starting to drain.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"Would you help me with my shirt?"

Padmé opened the door and saw her half-dressed child sitting on the floor trying to put his shirt over his wounds.

"You don't need to wear your shirt, Luke. Here, give it to Mommy."

Luke passed her the shirt. Padme grabbed her hairbrush and a hand towel. She carried her son back down to the living room and draped the towel around his shoulders. She started to slowly brush his hair out a little bit at a time.

Luke fell asleep again when his mother was about halfway through brushing his hair. Padmé smiled at her sleeping son's innocent features and continued her work. She had just finished when her husband arrived home.

Vader slipped past the room where his wife was patiently untangling their son's hair and into their room. He took off his helmet and looked at himself in the mirror. The surgeries had been successful. He was still Vader, of course, but now he could pass as Anakin if he had to. _Padme will be happy,_ he decided.

He quickly changed into his old tunic and returned to the living room. Luke was still asleep on his mother's lap and Padmé was rocking him gently, the hairbrush put to one side and forgotten.

"Good morning, Padmé."

"Welcome home, Ani," Padmé smiled at her husband's improvement, "I'd hug you, but Luke is asleep."

Vader nodded, "So I see." It would be a bad idea, he decided, to seem too cold towards the boy. He sat down next to his wife on the sofa. Vader realized that, to his horror, Luke wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Why did you have to hurt Luke like that?" Padmé asked, tracing alongside one of the cuts with her finger.

Vader didn't know how he could possibly answer in a manner that wouldn't make his wife angry, "He disobeyed a direct order. I had warned him."

Padmé ran her hands through her son's hair, "I'm sure he didn't mean to, Ani. Luke wouldn't make you angry on purpose."

Vader nodded, "He may appear that way to you, but I hope you don't expect me to bond with him."

"All right then. He'll be my little boy." Padmé rocked her son carefully.

Vader rolled his eyes, somewhat nauseated by his wife's treatment of their son. Luke murmured something in his sleep and curled tighter.

"Why's he sleeping like a sleep-deprived wampa, anyway?" Vader stared at the still form of his son.

"Because he _is _sleep-deprived," Padmé said patiently.

Vader stared at the boy. Despite his belief that the child was a monster unworthy to live in the galaxy, never mind_ his_ wife's arms, he couldn't help acknowledging that when the boy was asleep he looked very cute. One small hand was wrapped around his mother's wrist and his mouth was open slightly. As he slept, the pain of the day and all his worries were wiped off his face. He really did look innocent.

Vader shook his head mentally. No matter how cute the boy was he was still a rebel. There was no forgiveness for that crime and Luke had been a particularly dangerous rebel.

Padmé stood and carried her son upstairs. She carefully tucked him into bed, careful not to let the blankets brush his wounds. Her husband followed her. She sat on the bed beside her sleeping son and put his bantha in his arms. Luke hugged it instinctively, even in his sleep he felt the need of something to cling to.

"If you hate him, why did you go to the trouble of making sure he had a nice room?" Padmé asked.

"I thought you would want him to be happy. It's more for you than for him." Vader sat next to his wife.

"I'm glad you did that for him."

Luke sighed softly and both adults looked at his sleeping form.

Padmé sighed softly, "He's perfect, isn't he?"

"I already told you that he is dangerous. If it's so important to you that he's happy, why don't you go and get him some foods and toys? I have no idea what a five year old might want."

"All right. I'll be back soon. Do you want to stay with Luke?"

"I think I will." Vader passed her a credit chip.

Padmé left feeling distinctly better about the relationship between her son and husband. If she'd known what her husband was doing to the boy she wouldn't have been so optimistic.


	6. Chapter 6

Luke was roused by his father's rough actions for the third time in as many days.

"Do you never learn? Stupid boy!" Vader pulled the liquid cable off his belt again.

Luke moaned and curled into a ball on the floor. He had hoped that the physical change in his father had indicated an emotional change too. Apparently it hadn't.

"I didn't mean to! Please, Dad! It was an accident! Please don't be mad!"

Vader snarled, "I don't believe that it was an accident, boy. And I told you not to call me 'Dad'!"

"I think you said not to call you 'Daddy'" Luke mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say, Boy?" Vader put the cable back on his belt and grabbed his son by the scruff of his neck.

"Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

"You made a smart remark!"

"Why did you put the rope away? Didja decide that you're not gonna hurt me?"

"Not that at all, Boy. Being whipped obviously didn't teach you anything. Now we're going to try cutting." Vader dragged his son down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Luke moaned as he bumped on each stair, his father was walking far too fast for him to keep up. Vader swung him onto the counter, hitting his head on the cupboard above him. Tears sprung to his eyes and he tried to push them away.

Vader walked to a drawer and pulled something out. Luke curled into a ball on the counter and he saw his father pulling a serrated knife out of the drawer. He gave a helpless whimper.

Vader held up the knife, "Do you think that would hurt too much?"

Luke nodded.

"That's too bad, isn't it?" Vader grabbed his son's wrist and pulled his arm away from his chest. He carefully slipped the knife into his son's shoulder and the boy whimpered.

"Does that hurt?"

"Yes! Please stop it!" Luke tried to pull away from his father, but the knife tore at his flesh.

Vader saw the small features contort in pain and laughed coldly. The boy was in the way. He'd overstayed his welcome. He was taking Padmé's attention. He should have been dead by now. He certainly shouldn't be feeling at home in his father's castle.

Luke shook as his father pulled the knife out of his son's skin and washed it off. Vader slapped the wound and pushed his son off the counter.

"Have you learned your lesson, Boy?"

Luke nodded silently.

"Good." Vader grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him back up to bed.

The moment his father was out of sight, Luke curled back under the covers and held his bantha close. Tears came so easily. With them came a torrent of his old memories and as he slipped into the netherworld of sleep he was forced to relieve them in dreams.

"_Father! Father, wait for me!" Luke called in his dream._

_Vader turned back to watch his son trying to scramble up the rock._

"_How much farther is it, anyway?" Luke asked._

"_Not too far, my child. Just a few more kilometers and you will be safe. Do you need help?" he held out one hand to the boy._

"_Yeah. Can we take a break for a minute?"_

"_If you need to. Here, lean on me." Vader drew his son against his side and supported the boy as he tried to catch his breath._

"_I'm not sure I can make it. I feel like there's a rancor running wild in my head." Luke was panting._

"_You're doing very well, Luke. I'm sure you can make it." Vader put an arm around his son's waist and started walking slowly, Luke stumbling along beside him._

_After about a hundred meters of Luke stumbling every three steps, Vader picked his son up, careful to avoid the boy's aching muscles. As his father carried him towards the Imperial base, Luke put his head on the older man's shoulder and waited until he felt strong enough to walk again. He climbed down and continued to walk._

_A last a building came into view, huge and intimidating, but a relief after the long walk through the desert._

"_Is that it?" Luke asked his father._

"_Yes, we're almost there. Just a little farther."_

"_Good. I really can't make it much farther." Luke paused again, and then started towards the building with renewed energy._

_After a few more moments they came into an area full of ground crew and Luke collapsed in exhaustion._

_He had made it. He had been able to get from where their ships had crashed to the Imperial base. His father had promised him a home and love. He was safe from the starvation he had faced out in the desert. He was safe and he was home._

_Suddenly stormtroopers had their hands under his shoulders, hoisting him to his feet, none too gently._

"_Where do you want the boy, Lord Vader?"_

"_High security. The boy is stronger than he looks, I don't want him getting away." Vader turned away and started towards the building._

"_Father?" Luke called after his father and tried to follow him._

_He was held back by the troopers, "Lord Vader doesn't have time for a rebel, Boy. You have information about the Alliance and we will get it from you."_

"_What? Father!" Luke was shaking. His father had promised. He had told him that he would be safe, that his associations with the Alliance would be forgotten._

_Vader turned back to the troopers holding his son, "Yes, Luke?"_

"_You said I would be safe here. You said that I could go home with you. You promised." Luke tried to pull out of the trooper's grip and go into his father's arms the way he had out in the desert._

"_I did promise, didn't I?"_

"_Yes, you did." Luke relaxed in the trooper's grip. His father hadn't forgotten. He still wanted him. This was all a misunderstanding._

"_You know that Sith are notorious for lying, don't you?" Vader turned and started to walk away again._

"_No! Father, please! Please, I'm your son!"_

_Vader just ignored his son and kept walking._

"Luke? Luke, are you all right? You're crying in your sleep."

Luke woke up to see his mother looking down at him in concern.

"I had a nightmare," Luke said, the response the older self in his dream would have given. Then the teenage Luke was gone and it left its five-year-old counterpart with the horrible memory. Luke started to cry harder and his mother held him close, gently speaking to him and rocking him.


	7. Chapter 7

Padmé held her son and kissed his forehead again. His nightmares had been getting worse and worse since the first time she'd found him crying in his sleep. Now sometimes he would talk too, calling out to his father for protection, love, or a little bit of food.

He had had one almost every day this week. It tore at Padmé's heart to see her son so frightened by his dreams. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that, since the incident with the knife wounds on the boy's shoulder, her husband hadn't hurt the boy, but somehow she couldn't quite make herself believe it.

Luke finally managed to recover from his latest nightmare and he sat back on his mother's lap. Seeing the sadness and worry in her face, he managed to make himself smile. She smiled back at him, but he knew she was still worried about him.

Luke knew, in the back of his mind, the part that still retained his reasoning and emotions of a young adult, that his mother was at least a bit Force sensitive after the process that had brought her back. After all, she had shared her son's Force sensitive blood. She could sense that something was still wrong between her son and husband. He was sure of it.

He didn't want her to find out just how bad it was. The first two times his father had hurt him he had run to her for comfort and protection. He had assumed that his father would stop hurting him if he knew that his wife would hear about it. Vader had acted as though he hadn't noticed. Now Luke was afraid for his mother's life and he couldn't tell her again.

Vader had noticed instantly, of course, and he had been taking advantage of it ever since. On more than one occasion Luke had wound up 'running away' so his mother wouldn't see what his father had done to him. On a planet like Vjun, running away meant hiding in the hanger until he could stop crying and stem the bleeding.

He had fought to learn not to flinch when she touched his wounds by accident, but he had managed it in the end.

Padmé finally finished calming her son and laid his small body back on the bed. Luke reached out for the bantha that sat at the foot of the bed, where he'd dropped it when his mother had picked him up to comfort him. Padmé passed it to him and watched him hug it.

"There you are, Luke. Get some more sleep." Padmé stood and turned out the light. She slipped down the stairs and into the laundry room.

Padmé was not a supporter of gender roles, but after her husband had managed to fill the entire room with soap suds she decided that she would allow this one. That had been yesterday. Anakin had seemed quite confused and he had finally admitted that he had programmed the washing machine to add soap and start on its own, but it had failed.

Padmé started pulling the clothes out of the hamper and putting them in the wash when she felt one that was decidedly wet. Pulling it out, she was horrified to see blood. She spread out the bloody cloth and recognized it as a bed sheet. Today was the day that Luke's sheets were supposed to be washed. With a sinking feeling, she checked the child's shirts. More blood.

Her husband hadn't stopped hurting their child, Luke had stopped telling her. She finished putting the laundry into the machine and slipped back upstairs and into her son's room. Luke was fast asleep and clutching his bantha closes.

Padmé unfastened her son's shirt and pulled it off. Then she carefully rolled him over to see a veritable latticework of whip marks on his back. She felt a tear run down her cheek and pulled away before any salty water could land on her son's back and hurt him more.

"Angel?" Vader looked into his son's room and saw his wife sitting on the bed over a sleeping boy. She was crying. "Angel, are you all right."

Padmé shook her head slightly and pulled the blankets over the boy. She walked to the doorway and leaned on her husband. Flustered, Vader put one arm around his wife and walked her down the stairs. He helped her sit down on the couch.

"What's wrong, Angel?"

Padmé held up what Vader had thought was a scrap of cloth. It was one of Luke's shirts, covered in blood. "How could you, Ani? He loves you. He's so protective. You took advantage of him. He didn't tell me because he was afraid for me. How long have you been doing this?"

"Doing what?" Vader asked, taking the shirt and looking at it. "Luke was playing in the kitchen today and he got into some food dye, that's all."

Padmé pulled away from her husband, "Don't lie to me, Ani. I saw the marks myself. You've been whipping him again. I think we had an understanding about you hurting him."

"Padmé, no! Don't do it, please!" Vader hadn't thought that Padmé would find out about this by _accident_.

"Ani, I'll give you one more chance. Please take it seriously."

"Thank you, Angel. Oh, thank you." Vader drew his wife close again and held her.

"I'm doing this for Luke. If I'm not here, I hate to think what you'd do to him." Padmé looked at her husband and stood up. "I'm staying in Luke's room tonight. That way I'll know if you hurt him. And in case you didn't work it out on your own, Luke didn't tell me about what you've been doing."


	8. Chapter 8

When Luke woke up the next morning and saw his mother sleeping on a mattress on the floor beside his bed, he knew that she'd found out. He felt tears on his cheeks right away. She would be mad and his father would be mad.

Padmé sat up and saw her son crying softly. She climbed onto his bed and held him close.

"Did you have another nightmare, Luke?"

"No! It's just that you saw an' now you're gonna…" Luke's words became another unintelligible sob.

"Hush, Luke. I'm not going to kill myself. It's going to be Ok. Daddy won't hurt you. I won't let him."

Luke sobbed for a while before he was able to brush the tears away. Padmé set him on the ground, took his hand and took him downstairs for breakfast. Luke followed his mother and she lifted him onto a chair at the table.

Padmé got her son a bowl of cereal and sat down across from him to eat her own.

Luke finally finished eating and pushed the bowl away so he could put his head on the table. He heard his mother stand up and take their dishes to the kitchen. Then he felt her hands on his shoulders and then under his arms, picking him up.

Padmé carried her son around the house all day, rocking him, speaking to him and generally comforting and protecting him.

Luke didn't mind in the least. He knew that as long as his mother was nearby his father wouldn't hurt him. He wished that he could believe that his father had changed and wouldn't hurt him ever again. He just couldn't.

Vader watched his son clinging to Padmé and knew that Luke was frightened. _Let him be frightened, he should be. He shouldn't even be alive. How can I destroy him without Padmé knowing it was me? I suppose I'll have to treat him well until I can figure out how to end this._

Vader reached out to his wife and took his son into his arms. The sooner he started this act, the better. Padmé might honestly believe he'd changed.

Luke started shivering the moment his father's hands touched his sides. He clung to his mother, but Vader pulled him away. As Vader started to rock the boy carefully, Luke relaxed a little bit, reminding himself that he was with his mother and, therefore, safe.

Vader looked at the boy in his arms. The scum was looking up at him hopefully. The worthless scum really thought that he might want him. Vader wanted to laugh, but he knew it would give him away. He forced his face into a smile.

Luke smiled up at his father. Vader had always been cold towards him, but if his mom was nearby he felt safe. He could sense the revulsion rolling off his father, but maybe he could change that.

Padmé smiled at her husband, who was now spinning their son in circles and making him laugh.

Luke giggled and fell back against his father's chest and he knew that as long as his mother was around he was safe. With that happy thought, he started to fall asleep again.


	9. Chapter 9

For a few weeks, Vader did his best to treat his son well and Luke was finally starting to feel at home again. It seemed almost like a normal family and Vader was even allowing his son to run into his arms at random.

As Padmé followed her son down the stairs, she heard a screech from Luke. She arrived in her husband's study to find that Luke had tried to ambush his father and Vader had caught him. Luke was lying on his back and laughing hysterically as his father tickled him.

As his wife entered the room, Vader stopped tickling his son and let the boy get up. Luke stumbled over to his mother, still giggling, and wrapped himself around her legs.

Vader stared after his son in disgust. He still hated the boy as much as ever, but he had finally learned to act otherwise.

"Ani?" Padmé asked, "We're out of food."

Vader smiled sheepishly at his wife, "Again?"

Padme smiled at him, "Again, you scatterbrain. Come on, Luke we don't want to bother Daddy."

Luke recovered from his giggles and followed his mother back out of the study.

"Can I come to the store with you, Mommy?" Luke grabbed his mother's hand.

"No. Just let me get you something to play with." Padme reached up to the top shelf of one of the cabinets and pulled out a few Jedi toys for the boy.

Luke was instantly distracted by a mental maze. Padmé smiled as he set his stuffed bantha on the floor and stared deep into the ball. As his blue eyes glazed, Padmé slipped into the kitchen to take inventory of what little food her husband did have in the house.

Vader glared at the screen. This was ridiculous. His commanders and admirals couldn't figure out what to do if someone turned off the lights. He sighed and pushed himself away from his desk in a very bad mood.

As he marched into the hall way, he saw his son, happily playing with some old Jedi toys.

Seeing Luke's simple, childish happiness with the toys, he thought,_ How can you be so happy? I tortured you and hated you when you needed me! You idolized me and I just shot you down! You've suffered so much more than me, how can you still be so happy and innocent and wholly, utterly, PERFECT!_

He grabbed his son with the Force and swung the child against the wall. He was almost unaware of shouting hateful words at the boy. Luke burst into tears and started shaking in his father's grip. This only served to infuriate Vader more.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had his lightsaber out and activated against his son's cheek.

As Luke screamed, Vader was aware of nothing else. He felt no remorse and he had no intention to let the boy go. He had a feeling that something was trying to reach him and finally something broke through.

"Anakin!" Padmé stared in horror at the horrible scene in front of her. Her son, screaming in agony his own father inflicted.

Vader dropped his son and Luke grabbed his bantha and crawled into a corner. As his parents fought, he tried to press himself right into the wall. Padmé and Vader were both getting more and more angry, then, suddenly, Padmé became deathly calm.

Luke burst into renewed sobs as she pulled a small knife out of a pocket and unfolded it. He screamed as she drove it into the left side of her chest, just missing the heart. As she crumpled to the ground, Luke jumped back out of his corner and ran to her side, taking her hand in his own.

Vader stared at his wife in shock and horror. This was not how this was supposed to go. Padmé was supposed to stay with him this time! Luke had gotten in the way! It was all Skywalker's fault! Vader reached down and pulled Luke away from his mother.

He knelt down next to her and tried to stem the bleeding with his hands, "Padmé, Padmé don't do this to me. Stay with me, I need you."

"Have you ever cared who needs you?" Padmé faltered and started to cough blood.

"Mom!" Luke tried to get back to his mother's side, but Vader pushed him away again.

Padme spat out some blood, "What about Luke?"

Vader ignored the question and took his wife in his arms for one last time. He held his son at bay until she was gone.

"Look what you did! You stupid, worthless boy!" Vader spun at his child and Luke clung to his bantha.

"I didn't mean to," Luke mumbled, looking at the body of his only loving parent.

Vader grabbed his son by the scruff of his neck and lugged him up the stairs to the attic and the machine, another clone of Padmé already waiting.

"I knew you would screw this up." He explained coldly as he chained his son back up to the machine.

Luke just whimpered and tried to cling to his bantha for as long as possible. When his son could barely move, Vader started the machine and watched his son scream.

After an hour, he had lost hope. He turned off the machine and walked up to his son, starting to detach him.

Tears were running down Luke's cheeks and his soft blue eyes seemed almost empty. "Why bother? Nobody wants me if Mom's not here. I'd rather die trying to get her back than live without her!" He sounded like an adult more than he did a child and Vader stared.

"I had thought you might want to go free. Find your friends again."

"I can't do that. I can't be sure that you wouldn't put a tracking device on me. You might as well leave me to die."

It was strange to hear such grown up words from a five-year-old body and Vader knew that it was pre-Process Luke showing through. "Fine, if that's the way you want it."

He restarted the machine and left to cremate his wife.

After a very private funeral, he went back to his own room and to sleep almost instantly, leaving his son to die on the torture rack.


	10. Chapter 10

Vader awoke in a dream. Looking around he saw that he was flying, but whatever was supporting him was quite invisible. Looking down, he saw a flock of Ruusan bats.

One little bat really caught his eye and flew closer to it. As he approached, he heard what sounded like a strange, light song. He smiled as the young bat swooped around, doing flips and playing. Other bats would fly with him for a while, play fighting in the air and swooping around.

Vader enjoyed watching the young creature for a while before one a creature came in and tore away two of the creatures that had been close to the one he had been watching from the beginning. His creature was stunned and it flew away from the group and got lost, but was almost instantly surrounded by another flock.

Now the cannibal creature was tearing off more and more of the bats around Vader's bat. He watched as the cannibal creature tore at the bat he had been watching and felt instantly terrible fear for his young bat.

Vader's bat tried to swoop away, but he got hurt by the other's claws, his wings slashed. When he managed to make his fall a bit more controlled, he was far from his new flock and the cannibal was flying near, waiting to strike.

The cannibal suddenly flew straight at the young bat and scraped its claws right across both wings, sending the creature into a helpless spiral. As the poor creature neared the ground, another bat flew out from behind a tree and caught him in its claws.

The new creature flew high, back through the branches of the trees and up to the sun, gently grooming the younger bat. When the smaller bat was stronger, the larger one carefully reminded him how to fly, slowly releasing him. When the young bat finally became confident in the air, the older one started singing the melody he had sung before.

Vader started, he had forgotten the young bat's song. Slowly the young bat let out a few tentative strains of music. As he had with the flying, the young bat sang its sweet tune it became more confident, until he was singing on his own.

Again the cannibal bat rose from the trees, this time it threatened Luke and the older bat tried to protect him, being slaughtered in the process. The cannibal bat continued to fight the young one and it tore deep into his wings once again.

This time there was no one to catch him. This time he fell and fell, through the canopy, through the branches, right down to the ground. As the small, battered bat touched the ground, he vanished.

Vader woke in a cold sweat. _The cannibal was me! That means that the little bat must have been Luke!_ He rolled out of bed and raced up to the attic, where his son was still lying on the torture rack and screaming in agony. He didn't bother to manually turn the machine off, just used the Force to do so and raced to his son's side.

The moment the pain stopped coursing through Luke, he became very lethargic and hardly reacted as his father took him in his arms. Vader carefully rocked his son and started to carry him back to his room when he realized that the boy was reaching out for his bantha. Vader drew the bantha to the boy with the Force and placed it in the boy's arms.

"Why bother?" Luke asked repeating his question from that afternoon.

"Because." It was all the reason Vader could give his boy.

When they reached the corridor with their bedrooms, Vader just absently slipped past his son's room and into his own. He lay down on his bed and drew his son close.

Luke blinked in surprise then curled up against his father. As he drifted off, he pressed his cheek against his father's chest and breathed in his scent for the first time.


End file.
